I Am A Biafran- Former Presidential Candidate, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu Says

Former Presidential candidate, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, says he is a Biafran just as the Hausas are known as Arewas and Yorubas are known as Oduduwas. Iwuanyanwu said this over the weekend while reacting to the release of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu last week.

According to Iwuanyanwu, there was no reason for the Federal Government to have detained Kanu in the first place.

“I have always said that was no reason detaining Nnamdi Kanu. In the law of this country which I know unless you have arms. Nnamdi Kanu didn’t commit any treason. Treason is when you take up arms against the government, he didn’t take up any arms, there was no reason whatsoever for detaining him, because everybody have the right to say I want Biafra, everybody have the right to say I want Biafra. For God’s sake, I’ve made it clear to people that Biafra is for the Igbo. Hausas are Arewas, Yorubas are Oduduwas and we are Biafrans. There is a problem we have because Biafra fought a war and people are ashamed to say they are Biafrans but I am not afraid to say I am a Biafran. Biafra is part of Nigeria, Arewa is part of Nigeria, Oduduwa is part of Nigeria; all of us are there. If a person from Oduduwa takes up arms to secede from Nigeria, its treason but if one is just saying by words of mouth, it just an ordinary expression of public opinion. There is no law that makes such a person get convicted by just saying we want to secede, it’s a right of expression. But if somebody from Oduduwa is amassing arms to topple the government to secede, its treason.

If somebody from Arewa is amassing arms to topple the government, its treason, if somebody from Biafra, because all of us are from Biafra I am from Biafra, to topple government, its treason. But if I come and say I want Biafra, it’s no offence. To the best of my knowledge Kanu didn’t have any violent means. All he said was that he wanted Biafra. He shouldn’t have been detained in the first place, I said it long ago. I said the government is making him a hero but people misquoted me and said I said government should jail him. No, I said that getting an innocent person, putting him in prison, they are making him a hero. So what Nnamdi Kanu is now is a hero because of all these. So he has not committed any offence and shouldn’t have been in detention in the first place. But there are also some parts of Igbo, who since after the war, they don’t want to talk about Biafra. You cannot wish away Biafra, Biafra is there just like you can’t wish away Oduduwa or Arewa.” he said

Biafra: A Cry For Justice

By Kalu Nwokoro Idika

It was on the night of 30th May 2007 that I accosted my father, Kalu Idika where he was sited quietly reflecting over an issue only him knew what it was. I greeted and sat down with him. Worried by his unusual solemn disposition, I asked him, Nna Kalu, why are you so quiet like this? He answered and said, “ogbo nnanya, I’m reminiscing over the exploits of the past”. While this conversation was going on, he suddenly muttered a surprising statement, “Biafra lives”. Immediately, I was transfixed and became more keen to listen to his story. Thereafter, he took me down memory lane and unbundled his experience of the sordid war that almost stripped the Igbo man naked.

“My son, I was in the village with my father who was a rich trader and farmer when the bloody war started. Then I was 13 years of age. My father who was a successful business man returned from Calabar and told us about the tremendous success the Biafran gorilla fighters were making in the war. I was in high spirit. Many of my relations in Asaga, Okoni, Amaekpu, Amangwu and Ebem Ohafia volunteered to enlist in the army. We were hungry, ready to fight and defend Biafra which was the only hope”

“Son, it was a fight against forces of extinction. The constant shelling by the Nigerian air force, the cry of the wounded innocent mothers and children engraved in my heart a wound that will never heal. I never regretted fighting the war. We fought for Justice though the enemies were too many. I still don’t believe we lost the war”. These were the sober words of late Idika Kalu after the end of the bloody civil war.

After the Biafra genocide, the Nigerian government initiated what it termed the 3 Rs: Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation. But has there really been any of these? Has there been any reconstruction? Has there been a rehabilitation? What of reconciliation? Far from it! A lot of Easterners are still moving about with wounds that were covered to fester. Rehabilitation is to rebuild that which was. And this points to both human and material. The Nigerian government never bothered to rebuild. Hence, since they did not bother to rebuild, how can they reconstruct for there to be reconciliation? The war cost the East so much, both in human and material resources. Therefore, I will not be saying the truth if I should say that much has been done to ameliorate the pains and loss of the Eastern region of Nigeria after the bloody war between Nigeria and Biafra. They claim equal rights to all Nigerian, yet we know for a certain that Easterners are treated as second class citizens. Thus, it has made the Easterners to become the proverbial bat which is neither of the earth nor of the sky.

Millions of Biafrans across the globe are still recounting their loses and pain, 50 years after the war. The evil has lingered enough, and we have to bale the water now that it’s an ankle deep before the evil that will come with it will consume what’s left of Nigeria. Nepotism and inequality is the premise upon which Nigeria operates. As such, there will be no amount of argument that will be convincing enough to substantiate the unconstitutional and wicked actions of power brokers in Nigeria, as to why the Eastern region should be systematically sidelined from every economic project that will better the wellbeing of it’s inhabitants after the mayhem inflicted on the region.

Since the end of the civil war, the East has suffered in the hands of political Mafias who felt the Igbo people of Nigeria crossed the red line. So, in other to deter the region from nursing the idea of abandoning the one Nigeria project in the nearest future, plans must always be in the pipeline to stop any veritable decision that will revitalize a region that hunger for both economic and political development

I wonder why the hen that lays the eggs which other regions are plundering continues to beg for crumbs in other to eat and survive. Why should it be so? A workman is deserving of his wages. 80% of the national revenue that sustains Nigeria is generated from the sweat and pain of the East, but there’s nothing to show for it within the region. It becomes a case of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop.

Until justice is served, Biafra question will continue to persist. “One Nigeria” will forever remain a fiasco if the Igbo man doesn’t get justice.

Kalu Nwokoro Idika is a political analyst, investigative and freelance journalist. He can be reached via email: kalunwokoroidika@yahoo.com.

Mere Mortals Don’t Know What Biafra Restoration Is All About — Nnamdi Kanu

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has stated that the group’s struggle for an independent Biafra Republic is divine, adding that mere mortals do not understand what it is all about.

Kanu stated this on Monday, June 1 while sharing on his social media page image of what he described as “17th Century Map of Biafra” which in his explanation is a proof that Biafra has since been in existence.

He wrote:

“Here is a 17th Century Map of BIAFARA, yes (BI-AFARA) not yet Biafra but BIAFARA. Note that Biafra is the anglicisation of name BIAFARA which was a deliberate ploy by the British to remove any link between the indigenous Biafaran people and the name BIAFARA. Till today there is a region called Anglia in England the same way you have Afara in Biafra.

“I am from AFARA in Ibeku, the same Afara we have in BI-AFARA. Fortuitously it was in this same AFARA that Biafra’s last capital was headquartered between 1969 to 1970. Okpula Isiokwe is the sacred ancestral ground of Isiama people of Afara and it was at that same spot our eternal leader General Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu housed his government. From that same Afara shall Biafra be restored not to be extinguished ever again.

“Biafara Regnvm means Kingdom of Biafara as stated clearly on the map below. It was not an earthly kingdom with men wearing its crown, it was the Kingdom of Heaven on earth with God Almighty Chukwu Okike Abiama on the throne.

“What IPOB is doing is too deep, too spiritual and too divine; if you are not in the spirit you will not understand it. Mere mortals don’t know what BIAFARA restoration is all about.

“Portuguese sailors had nothing to do with the naming of BIAFARA. All they did was note the name of place and the people. When you are not educated enough to discuss issues above your station, simply shut up, keep still and allow yourself to be tutored.”

The day our People get to know about what Nnamdi Kanu did to ruin, hijack and derail the network of grassroots structures LNC established between the 2009 Inaugural Proclamation of the LNC in Warri and 2013 when heinous Falsehoods were massively disseminated against the LNC by Nnamdi Kanu to the same masses who quietly (as requested by the LNC) but happily received the Grand Liberation gospel of the LNC in Ochanja, Ariaria, Ogbete, Ogbe-Ogonogo, etc everywhere between Bonny and Abakiliki, he will be have nowhere to hide on the face of the earth from the wrath and fury of the Igbo.

There is one more step left in the LNC Project Process for us to return to that discussion, in ord er to manage the fallouts from that sordid episode. Today, like many other Falsehoods, the Impression is that the LNC is not on ground in the Homeland.

To give us an indication of the depth of Treachery, wickedness and desperation at play, Nnamdi took maximum advantage of things I discussed with him in absolute confidence relating to the Strategies by which the LNC Operations had up to that point evaded even the best surveillance of the Caliphate and their British sponsors. I had been completely open to Nnamdi in that Meeting because it was Admiral Godwin Ndubuisi Kanu (who had been rock-solid in the LNC Designs from the beginnings of its Overt Phase and who had also mediated in my relationships with Ralph Uwazuruike when Uwazuruike derailed), that set up that Meeting and so I took it for granted that I was in the company of a Compatriot.

This was a most tragic Misplacement of Trust and the Destiny of 70 Million People had to hang in the balance in the 6 years that followed until the Mercy of God prevailed.

Even whilst completely rejecting the 8-Point Strategy of LNC as tabled in that 2013 Meeting, Nnamdi Kanu took the sensitive LNC Project Materials I shared with him at that Meeting and systematically began to graft them into the nefarious “Biafra Franchise” Enterprise he Clear-mindedly set out for, from the onset, as would manifest later.

Not only were the materials put to negative use in advancement of a Criminal Enterprise that fed on the Blood, Misery and Ignorance of our People, Nnamdi Kanu actually pushed very hard with False Propaganda and Calumnies to FORCE the LNC to blow its cover in the Homeland, in the hope that when that happens, the Caliphate will swoop in on the LNC and so his Criminal Enterprise of Rogue “Biafra” Franchise, operated from the safety of the UK will blossom unchallenged. Unfortunately for Nnamdi Kanu, Providence forced him to make a stop in Nigeria in 2015 where he came face to face with some of the consequences of his Lies as it was the same Tony Nnadi who was working for the Caliphate enemy that had to extricate him from the Pit of Treason.

It might interest us to learn that the first time the IPOB footsoldiers in Nigeria learnt exactly what the LNC was actually doing was at an Interview Session I had with the Media at the Federal High Court Abuja as we battled the Treason Charges against Nnamdi and his IPOB co-accused, when in between a 3-Hour Adjournment, the large retinue of Journalists who had not seen me in Abuja for a while, insisted on having an Interview with me while we awaited the DSS production of the accused persons to Court. The LNC Materials collected by those shocked IPOB Footsoldiers from that Impromptu Interview Session were later sent by Courier to the Collegiate Leadership of the IPOB in Europe. The receipt of those LNC Documents by the rest of the IPOB Leadership became also the first time they were seeing exactly what the LNC was doing, contrary to the Lies Nnamdi Kanu had fed to them.

The genuine elements amongst them immediately saw the futility of all they were doing in the name of “Biafra Restoration” and so went to work to try to get Nnamdi Kanu to retrace his steps and embrace the 8-Point Strategy of the LNC which he rejected wholesale in 2013.

It was that attempt to save the Liberation Project from the deadly Mercantile Malfeasances of Nnamdi Kanu that led to the staccato of Suspensions and Expulsions in 2017 of all the more honest members of the IPOB Collegiate Leadership of the time (DOS they called it), including Dr Clifford Iroanya. Nnamdi from that point assumed the title of “Supreme Leader” having expelled those who actually built the IPOB, and in the characteristic Treachery, he labeled them Saboteurs and FALSELY accused them of all manners of crimes including attempting to overthrow him while he was incarcerated, particularly Dr Clifford Iroanya who actually did the most difficult mediation to try to get me to forgive the heinous deeds of Nnamdi Kanu for the sake of the Liberation Project.

Everything else you are told about what went wrong with the IPOB Collegiate Leadership is False as far as the immediate cause of the said Suspensions and Expulsions. I was in the Middle of what transpired and their offence was that they tried to get Nnamdi Kanu to keep to an Accord reached about adopting the Viable RouteMap to Freedom.

This is the reason I set the two pre-conditions for any kind of Meeting with the Leadership of “Biafra Restoration” Bandwagon namely:

(1) The Prior Production of a RoadMap or wholesale adoption of the LNC Roadmap.

(2) That only Dr Clifford Iroanya will bring the Leadership of the “Biafra Restoration” commotion to any so-called “Unity Meeting” with me and the LNC. This is the only way to get to the truth of the matter going by the antecedents of the Merchants of Lies.

• It was in furtherance of the overall gameplan of getting the obstacle called the LNC out the way of the Rogue “Biafra” Franchise that Nnamdi crafted the deliberate Falsehoods that the LNC was working for the emergence of a New Nigeria (ie sustenance of One-Nigeria) even when I confided in him in that 2013 Meeting that the LNC Multi-Regional Alliance Outreach to the rest of the South and Middle-Belt, the MNN ie “Movement for New Nigeria” was in reality a Movement for No Nigeria and that the name and mechanisms would keep the enemy running in the opposite direction.

• Nnamdi in absolute Treachery, held out to his hoodwinked multitudes, the LNC-led MNN Alliance as proof that the LNC was set up by, financed and was working for the Caliphate to save and reinforce One-Nigeria and to frustrate his “Biafra Restoration” efforts. Himself and his deranged minions both in broadcasts and internet frequently challenged me to mention “Biafra” as what I was campaigning for, as if Independence and Self-Determination were totally different from the “Biafra” being sought.

Progressively and in rapid succession, he added other Lies to further incite his ignorant followers against the LNC and what the LNC was actually doing, still drawing from the privileged information shared with him in Confidence. Those Lies are at the roots of the confusion that has continued to reign amidst his staunch followers, even those with education, exposure and genuine desire for Freedom for our People. They simply believed a Fellow they were hoodwinked into trusting.

• Having set the 1999 Constitution firmly on the path of its demise, the LNC and it’s MNN Alliance established firm control of the raging “RESTRUCTURING” Campaign in Nigeria, Strategically Steering the Modalities for that “Restructuring” IRREVERSIBLY into a 2-Stage Process that has REFERENDUMS as a part of the First Stage, in which the trapped Constituent Component Blocs of the Defunct Federation of Nigeria would be Voting to Recommit to, or formally Opt Out of the Failed Nigerian Union (See below the November 18, 2018 LNC/MNN “OPEN MEMORANDUM TO BUHARI ON RESTRUCTURING”).

• At a time the Self-Determination Commotion was ringing loud from the NDPVF/MEND/AVENGERS threat of “Niger Delta Republic”, to OPC/YOLICOM “Oodua Republic”, to the the “Biafra Actualization/Restoration”, all of which had found new impetus, convergence and common-ground of No-Union in the LNC/MNN Grand Strategy, this establishment of Concrete Control of the Countrywide Campaign for Restructuring by the MNN Alliance was the greatest Coup Nigeria had ever witnessed because whatever Nigeria did in response to either the rambunctious SELF-DETERMINATION Demands or the Deafening Countrywide RESTRUCTURING Campaign, the 1999 Constitution and the Unitary Union it foists MUST go down and UN-Backed REFERENDUMS would be the first Order of Business since a Sovereignty Dispute had been raised by the Crashing of the Disputed and Repudiated 1999 Constitution

• In the midst of these very dangerous maneuvers being executed INSIDE Nigeria by the LNC, it took the greatest discipline and restraint to endure the unceasing taunting, ridicule and insults of Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB minions who at the instance and guidance of their Rogue ‘Saviour’ and ‘Supreme Leader’ continued to Falsely present the LNC/MNN’s Onslaught on the 1999 Constitution to our People as a push for “CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS” and “THE MAKING OF A NEW CONSTITUTION”, knowing the truth that the LNC only sought to crash the 1999 Constitution to end the Toxic Union it foists, and therefore the emergence of Fresh Protocols.

Between these carefully crafted Piles of Lies and Massive Propaganda against the LNC by Nnamdi Kanu, the already difficult Task of Taking Down the Caliphate Monster to extricate our People and our Homeland, was made a lot more difficult. The Alliances both within the Lower Niger and the wider South/Middle-Belt, Critically Required in order to isolate and to Take Down the Caliphate Monster, was being debilitated in unimaginable ways by the Rogue “Biafra Restoration” Enterprise. On the International Circuit, those in Washington DC and New York who have the capacity and willingness to help avert for us, the imminent extermination being propelled by the Fulani, are embarrassed that we (Igbo) would allow the magnitude of scam Nnamdi Kanu is perpetrating in the name of a totally meaningless “Biafra Restoration”.

The reason I am furnishing these details at this point in time is to give us a glimpse and insight into the rotten and unsustainable foundation upon which the so-called “Biafra Restoration” undertaking currently sits, and therefore to provide a guide to those who may genuinely wish to see an end to the bondage of our People in the Homeland, to get a clearer picture of the Muddled Battlefield.

— Tony Nnadi is a Scribe of Lower Niger Congress (LNC), a self-determination movement for the indigenous peoples of the Lower Niger.